Recently, prostate-related diseases have been recognized as most frequently affecting adult men, and many men suffer from prostatitis, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), prostate cancer, impotence, etc. Among them, prostatitis is a disease which is most common to adult men below 50 years old. According to the statistics in U.S.A., as a result of investigating patients having urinary disorders, it was found that about 25% of the patients have a symptom of prostatitis. It was known that about 50% of men experience a symptom of prostatitis through a lifetime. Specifically, a source and a treatment method of the prostatitis have been not found yet. For this reason, prostatitis is called a ‘wastebasket of clinical ignorance’. Methods for treating prostatitis known in the art so far include pharmacotherapy using an antibiotic or an alpha blocker, a standard therapy such as massage of the prostate and sitz bath, and surgical treatment such as microwave hyperthermia and laserthermia.
Benign prostatic hyperplasia occurs frequently next to prostatitis. As a man gets the age of 50, a hypertrophic lesion starts to form in the prostate. If the prostate which surrounds an outlet of the bladder is enlarged, since the urethra is narrowed due to compression of the outlet of the bladder, urine discharged from the bladder becomes slim. As a degree of enlargement of the prostate increases, urinary obstruction is caused. It was reported that benign prostatic hyperplasia prevails about 50% of 50s, about 60% of 60s and about 70% of 70s. Therefore, it is to be understood that the benign prostatic hyperplasia is regarded as a serious adult male disease which deteriorates the quality of life. As a method for treating the benign prostatic hyperplasia, a transurethral needle ablation (TUNA), a high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for causing necrosis of prostate tissues using radio waves, and a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) as a surgical therapy are known in the art. While a pharmacotherapy is also implemented, difficulties are provoked due to peculiarity of the prostate tissues.
Prostate cancer is regarded as a devastating disease which most severely affects a patient. Prostate cancer is a malignant tumor which starts to form around the prostate. No symptom is revealed in an initial stage of development. Once a symptom is revealed, it is often the case that prostate cancer is rapidly metastasized to the bones and other major organs such as the lung, and so forth. In U.S., an incidence of the prostate cancer increases so fast as one of six males is confronted by the danger to be caught by prostate cancer. However, if diagnosis of prostate cancer is established at an early stage, a significant treatment effect can be expected such that a 10 years survival rate approaches to 80%. As a method for treating prostate cancer, pharmacotherapy, surgical therapy, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy are known in the art.
Another serious disorder resulting from prostate-related diseases as described above is impotence. Impotence which results by the occurrence of and in the course of treating chronic prostatitis, benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer, imposes an adverse influence on the quality of men's life, next to prostate cancer. As a method for treating impotence, pharmacotherapy, injection therapy, surgical therapy, etc. are known in the art.
Although various methods for treating prostate-related diseases as described above have already been known in the art, since the prostate is positioned at a complex region of the human body and the peculiarity of the prostate tissues and the source of prostate diseases are not unveiled yet, problems and harmful effects are induced. To cope with these limits and problems existing in the conventional treatment methods, a near-infrared treatment device has been developed. The near-infrared treatment device is based on a technique revealed by “project for studying plant growth in space” of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The NASA has been developed a light emitting diode which generates powerful light, with an aim of studying plant growth in a space. Thereafter, Wisconsin Medical College residing at Milwaukee demonstrated that a therapy using near-infrared light emitting diodes (NIR LED) increases energy in cells and thereby attains a considerable result in treating an ulcer and a brain tumor. That is to say, it was demonstrated that light emitted from the near-infrared LED has the same wavelength as that needed to remove brain tumor, activates mitochondria of cells to thereby increase activity, and functions to adjust an increase in an amount of nitric oxide (NO) in blood. This fact was confirmed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
After that, with the development of the electronic technology, diverse methods for treating various diseases using near-infrared rays emitted from the light emitting diodes have been developed. Near-infrared rays (NIR) indicates light having a wavelength range of 770-1, 400 nm which is close to visible rays among infrared rays. Near-infrared rays are also called thermal rays since they have a thermal function which is more powerful than visible rays or ultraviolet rays. Due to these characteristics, if near-infrared rays penetrate into tissues of the human body, heat is generated in the corresponding portion of the human body. Near-infrared rays penetrate to a depth of 20-80 mm under the skin, and performs disinfecting and sterilizing functions in addition to the thermal function.
Also, as described above, near-infrared rays functions to promote generation of nitric oxide in blood. If an amount of nitric oxide increases locally in the human body, blood vessels are created and physiological functionality of tissues is activated to facilitate healing of a wounded part and alleviate the pain. In 1994, the FDA confirmed that near-infrared rays having a wavelength range of 890 nm increases an amount of nitric oxide in blood to facilitate blood circulation, alleviation of pain and treatment of a wounded part. Also, it was demonstrated through clinical experiments that nitric oxide promotes phagocytosis of macrophage to aid an antibacterial action of tissues and take effects on treatment of an inflammation. Further, nitric oxide activates sexual functionality and plays an important role of aiding treatment of impotence, and is used as a material for Viagra (generic name: sildenafil) which is sexual dysfunction therapeutics.
As described above, even though near-infrared rays provide excellent advantages in that they penetrate into tissues to generate powerful heat and promote production of nitric oxide to thereby activate physiological functionality, near-infrared rays are limitedly used in treating only some diseases. In this regard, means for utilizing near-infrared rays to the treatment of prostate diseases are not developed yet.